Weird! I was just going to start a thread about this too. I'll be going to Jerusalem/Tel Aviv/Haifa for about ten days (also flying out of Vancouver...strangeness!), so I'll be watching this thread too.

My Israeli friend said that if you can't seem to find any vegan options, falafel/hummus are usually a good standby.

When I'm in Israel I always make a plan to go to Cafe Rimon on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem. There are plenty of vegan options on the dairy side of the restaurant. Also, there is a superb falafel bar right opposite.

Hummus gets old pretty quick. It's definitely delicious and plentiful but after 10 days it's a bit much.

But the good news is I had one of the best vegan experiences of my life. If you ever go to Israel you must stop in at the African Israelite community in Dimona. They are a small community of black people, mostly from the states, who are all vegan. The restaurant is in the middle of the community. Everything is home-made, including the wheat gluten. The BBQ kelbone (what they call seitan) was perfect as was the battered tofu. My meal was served with potato salad and greens. They even have a soft serve machine! The women who run the restaurant were so welcoming and sat with me when things slowed down a bit. There isn't a lot happening in Dimona (the other vegan restaurant, Buddha Burger just closed down last week) so I would recommend just driving through, on your way to the Dead Sea.

Tel Aviv is a lot better for vegan food than Jerusalem. There is an African Israelite restaurant, Taste of Life, that made me rethink the boring "tofu burger" that you see on a lot of menus. Creamy sauce with pickles and salad and a homemade patty brimming with flavour. Lots of other options on the menu too. Buddha Burger is the best place to find veganized versions of standard Israeli fast food like shwarma and schnitzel. The shwarma burger was bland but they nailed the schnitzel.

Health food stores have very little in the way of vegan staples like soy yogurt and fake meats. But the abundant fresh fruits and vegetables at the markets really made me wish I had a kitchen to cook in especially when faced with the usually weak breakfast options at hotels. Cinema Hotel in Tel Aviv was decent. There were usually potatoes, hummus and halva spread. One morning there was cauliflower which made me rethink cauliflower as only for dinner!

Bread in Israel is awesome, unless you don't like sesame or poppy seeds.

Coffee culture is very European with most places having passable coffee but I never found one place that seemed to do their own roasting on-site or employ any coffee making method other than an espresso machine or drip coffee.

Do not drink Gold Star beer, the Israeli equivalent of Bud Light or Miller. There are a handful of good microbrews but their expressions are not nearly as diverse as in North America. Porter and Sons in Tel Aviv (near the Cinematheque) had a good selection of on tap and bottled Israeli beer with a knowledgable bartender.

If you need to eat vegan in Israel, the best is to look for kosher dairy restaurant. By this way you will sure no to eat meat and it will be easy to find something with only vegetables. Usually, israelis coffees have vegetables menus.

The best hummus EVER is in a town called Akko (also spelled Acre) close to Haifa. In the middle of the shuuk, there is a place called Hummus Saiid -- They only have 5 things on the menu, all hummus. The hummus with the chickpeas on top is probably my favorite food in existance and I have contemplated many times making a return trip just so I can eat here again.

And my other favorite place, although I don't know the name of it is in Tzfat. There's this Yemenite person who makes the best Lachuch, which is similar to laffa bread. And if I recall, I get it with fresh tomato and onion slices, olive oil and zaatar sprinkled on heavily. SO GOOD.

And my other favorite place, although I don't know the name of it is in Tzfat. There's this Yemenite person who makes the best Lachuch, which is similar to laffa bread. And if I recall, I get it with fresh tomato and onion slices, olive oil and zaatar sprinkled on heavily. SO GOOD.

Was his name Ronen, by any chance? I'm not sure if his place even has a name but his lechuch has to be in the top five things I've ever eaten. I wish I could get on a plane right now.

And my other favorite place, although I don't know the name of it is in Tzfat. There's this Yemenite person who makes the best Lachuch, which is similar to laffa bread. And if I recall, I get it with fresh tomato and onion slices, olive oil and zaatar sprinkled on heavily. SO GOOD.

Was his name Ronen, by any chance? I'm not sure if his place even has a name but his lechuch has to be in the top five things I've ever eaten. I wish I could get on a plane right now.

I just made aliyah at the beginning of July, and am now back in Tel Aviv. I'm so happy to know that the bread at the Yemenite place in Tzfat is vegan! I spend a lot of time at Livnot across the street and never tried it (partly because I was lazy about asking if it was def vegan....which is dumb because I can super easily ask in Hebrew).

Anyway, Nachos, it's super easy to find vegan stuff in even regular grocery stores here! Mostly I buy nooch from health food stores (I think Nitzat Haduvdavan is the cheapest, plus they have a pretty awesome club membership available). Tofu is also the cheapest at Nitzat from what I've found (they sell large blocks, that I think are about a kilo....for 29 NIS, I paid 11.90 per small block at Supersal last week). I see seitan in grocery stores everywhere too. Tempeh is the only thing I have a bit of trouble finding, though I think the last place I found it was the organic section of the Ramat Aviv Supersal. It was frozen.

I've had the vegan cookies at cookeez. Pretty tasty. Wasn't at all impressed with anything I bought at Seeds.

I could really go on and on about Tel Aviv vegan options. I'm also working as a personal chef/baker here.

Feel free to PM if you want to talk more/ask questions about everything (or actually, you can email me at tipsyshades@gmail.com. It's my public email and I check that more than I'd check here to be perfectly honest).

Question- has anyone done the research to find out which chips/doritos are vegan in Israel? I can't find the ingredient lists online to translate, and there don't seem to be "accidentally vegan" lists like we have in the US.

I'm pretty sure all of the doritos are vegan here! And by that I mean, even nacho cheese flavor is pareve (I ate them yesterday...) I find the easiest way to figure out if things are vegan or not is to skip reading the ingredients, but underneath there's usually a little box listing the allergens, so dairy and eggs will always be listed there. Though if it's פרווה there won't be meat or dairy. Also חלבי means dairy, so if that is on snacks or chocolate, it almost definitely means there's actual dairy in the ingredients.

Hey Jerusalem! I'm in TLV :-) I almost never get to Jlem, but always happy to share vegan food!

I'm pretty sure all of the doritos are vegan here! And by that I mean, even nacho cheese flavor is pareve (I ate them yesterday...)

AMAZING!!! This is the best news I've heard all week. I'm going to buy all the flavors and have a taste test. What a time to be alive.

I'd also like to give a shout-out to date syrup. It's so cheap and the perfect sub for honey, maple syrup, etc. I put it on pancakes and it's just divine. I wish this product was as prevalent in the U.S. as it is here.